27 Deaths Attributed to Bard Medical Monitoring IVC Blood Clot Filters

Posted July 18, 2016

In Defective Products, Medical Malpractice

Diagram of the human heart, created by Wapcaplet in Sodipodi. Cropped by Yaddah to remove white space (this cropping is not the same as Wapcaplet’s original crop).
© Wikimedia Commons

Plaintiffs from 12 states across the U.S. are calling for medical monitoring for those who have Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter implants manufactured by the company C.R. Bard. The plaintiffs and their attorneys are seeking class-action status and will join over 600 individual suits brought against Bard in recent years.

IVC filters are meant to prevent blood clots, but according to the Southern Institute for Medical and Legal Affairs, Bard’s filters have a “propensity to tilt, fracture and perforate the vena cava.” The devices also dislodge and migrate, causing a host of life-threatening problems as a result.

Humans have two vena cavas, large arteries that carry deoxygenated blood into the heart. The inferior vena cava carries blood from the lower extremities, and both vena cavas sit on the left side of the heart.

Medical Monitoring Changes

In November 2015, NBC News reported that Bard replaced the problematic filters with a similar model that also led to patient deaths and a host of medical issues. What’s worse, the company knew the replacement filter was another risk to patients, but failed to recall the medical device and instead elected to keep it on the market for another five years.

But Bard has been aware of their defective medical devices for even longer. A 2004 study commissioned by the company found that Bard’s filters underperformed those manufactured by competitors and that “further investigation of the Recovery VCF filter performance in relation to migration and fracture is urgently warranted.”

At least 27 deaths and hundreds of medical problems have been attributed to Bard’s IVC filters. If you or someone you know has had a Bard blood clot filter implanted, contact the medical malpractice lawyers at Pribanic & Pribanic at 1-800-392-4529. Our award-winning attorneys and medical experts offer free consultation for patients who’ve suffered personal injury and family members who’ve lost a loved one.

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Melissa Troutman

Melissa Troutman is a journalist, writer and vocal artist. She began full-time writing in 2010 as a newspaper reporter in her hometown of Coudersport, Pennsylvania before co-founding the investigative news nonprofit Public Herald, where she now serves as Executive Director. Melissa co-wrote, -directed and -edited the documentary Triple Divide (2013), which she also narrates with award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo. Follow her on twitter @melissat22.